


The Weaver

by cat_afterlife



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Angst, Attempted Sexual Assault, F/M, Fluff, I Don't Even Know, Mind Control, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Slow Build, Swearing, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony misses Steve, Violence, What Have I Done, When peter cries i cry, did i say angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2018-12-22 03:09:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11958456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cat_afterlife/pseuds/cat_afterlife
Summary: Best friends since childhood, Peter Parker and Carter Moore are inseparable but when peculiar secrets build up on both sides, their relationship becomes strained. An unfortunate encounter in a dark ally introduces Carter to Spiderman and both their lives are immediately tangled in a wicked web of complications.





	1. The beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic will basically follow the events of Homecoming but kinda loosely because I can’t exactly remember it all and I shoved heaps of original stuff in too so anyway beware spoilers ahead also disclaimer i dont own any of these characters (except for Carter) they all belong to marvel etc etc...
> 
> Just a heads up, I’m Australian and I have absolutely no idea how America works let alone New York and your trains and ferrys and schools and stuff so pls bear with me while I bullshit all of it :)) or like lemme know what I’m doing wrong I’m up for constructive criticism.  
> enjoy x

Carter Moore and Peter Parker had been best friends since they were young; they lived in neighbouring apartments and met on the battlefield of a rousing game of street soccer at the age of 7. Carter had always been an outspoken girl, very loyal, very protective and very trustworthy. In fact, Carter dealt with truths in the way that a doctor dealt with a patient; that is to say, very seriously. 

Carter’s single mother and Peter’s aunt were fast friends and Peter and Carter were inseparable as they grew, with the same interests, dry humour and morals. Their friendship held through thick and thin, scrapes and bruises and more than a few scoldings from Aunt May and Mrs. Moore.

What their friendship wasn't ready for was a specifically significant radioactive spider and of course, puberty…

Now as peculiar as a radioactive spider and the consequent abilities are, Carter somewhat rivalled these abilities with a strange one of her own. She was born with the ability to discern truth from lie.

Later in her life she will be known to some solely as The Weaver. Her ability to see the weave of a lie, the stringing together of words and see the intent behind them. Also for one other reason, one that will become apparent in due time.

As a young one she understandably assumed that this was an ability everyone had, so never felt like she could get away with a lie and therefore never tried. This in turn raised one of the sneakiest kids with the quietest of tip toes and the quickest of hands.

Its a story for a different time, the days she spent in her tween years, testing whether her ability was unique. Pretty amusing to be honest, but the take away message is that for all of Carter’s youth that she told telling truths, her ability was one she never dared to share. With anyone.

Carter and Peter met Ned at a Stark expo a couple years back and had been fast friends due to the overwhelming number of shared interests. Friday night movie nights were the best times she’d ever had. But recently, dynamics in the group had become strained as things got a little weird between Carter and Peter. He rarely hung out with either of them outside of school anymore, and when he did, he either left unexpectedly or cancelled at the last minute. He even stopped walking home from school with Carter, claiming he had to prepare things for ‘Mr. Stark’ and ‘his internship’. Both of which her ability relayed to her as ‘half truths’. Peter was throwing a lot of these ‘half truths’ at her lately, and as the weeks stretched by, an increasing number of blatant lies.

This is where their story takes a turn; some might say for the worse but thats up for debate.

~

Carter finished collecting her books from her locker and jumped as it was slammed shut in her face. Her eyes trailed up the arm that closed it, landing on the wide smirk belonging to Flash.  
“Heyy,”, he drawled, “mmmm, as always you smell like berries Carter, very nice, very nice”.

She looked at him with a blank face, fighting a fond smile as she recalled the berry scented perfume Peter had bought her for a previous birthday.

“So…”, he continued”, “As you know Decathlon nationals is coming up, you’re coming with the team right? I’ve got some of the girls cooking up some posters to support uh us I guess, thought you might wanna join in on the fun? Tonight. At my house. We can run through some practice too. Coach said he’s considering me for team leader next year when Liz graduates ”. 

White lies were always the most charming. Somewhat amusing. Decidedly irritating. They felt like the equivalent of the tiny noise you hear when a bug flies into a bug zapper.

Carter had unashamedly tuned out and was scanning the crowd of students milling around the lockers. She noticed Peter and Ned walking up the hallway almost right away and immediately returned her attention back to Flash with a wide plastic smile.

Seeing her momentary divide in attention Flash placed his other hand on the lockers on the other side of her head, blocking Peter and Ned from her vision.

“And you can tell your little friend, Penis Parker, that he need not come back to decathlon as the final position is filled”, He sneered.

Carter gritted her teeth behind her smile and looked up at him for a moment. She hadn’t been listening to most of what he was saying so she forced her smile to be sweeter and touched his arm lightly with her fingers.  
“Your house! Yeah sounds good! Love parties! Wish I could come but babysitting my little sister unfortunately!” she threw at him with a pout and ducked under his arm, “see you at decathlon practice!”

“Who said anything about a party? You don’t even have a little sister…”, Flash frowned at her retreating form.

Carter walked nonchalantly up to her friends with a keen eye on Peter’s reaction, Ned leaned in for a fist bump and Peter’s smile was bright as he welcomed her with a quick hug, but his expression darkened and his jaw clenched as he looked behind her at Flash.  
“He bothering you again Cart? Why are you talking to him?”, he asked, still frowning at the idiot down the hall.

She tugged anxiously on her sleeve and grimaced, suddenly remorseful at the fact that she was trying to make him jealous of none other than his bully.

“Uhh he cornered me, something about a party I think? Not like we’d go anyway”, she said the last part bitterly, trudging down the hall to stop at Peter’s locker with him.

“Oh um, d-did you want to go? I didn’t really think it was your thing?”, Peter stuttered in surprise, successfully opening his lock and turning to her.

She leaned back against the locker next to Peter’s and sighed, “When was the last time we did anything outside of school Pete? When was the last time we even walked home together? Not to mention you quit robotics lab and barely show up to decathlon”.  
He immediately started stuttering out the same excuses; Stark internship, study, grocery shopping etc.

She rolled her eyes, mood darkening as her ability practically dinged.

He tried to regain composure and as she turned dejectedly away he reached forward and grabbed her hand, “Wait, Carter”, he ground out.

She turned back towards him with mild hope, keenly aware of his warm hand in hers, she clutched her books tighter to her chest and managed to ask, “What happened to us Pete?”.

He drew his hand back slowly and swallowed thickly before gathering up his books, “I’m sorry, look, wait for me after school, we’ll walk home together, I’ve got popcorn at mine we can watch star wars”, he finished in a placating tone.

A sudden flash of anger surged through her and her knuckles turned white at the tight grip she had on her books. “I’m not a charity project! I wouldn't want you to go out of your way.” She said harshly, “You can’t just walk me home and put on a movie and decide everything’s okay between us.”

Peter took a short step back, shocked at her outburst before his face reddened with anger and he hissed back, “I’m sorry but not everything revolves around you! I’ve got more important things to worry about!”, he slammed his locker, turned and stormed off.

Half truth… her ability slithered.

With a small sniff Carter smashed her palm into the locker next to her with a loud bang.

Immediately, Flash was at her side again.

She turned swiftly to him, before he could even say a word and spat, “Come near me or Peter again today and I will knock your teeth out. Even the molars.”

Along with her words came a feeling of release and Flash’s face went white. Carter rolled her eyes as she realised he believed every word she said before she turned on her heel stalked off to her first class.

Down the hall, the corners of Peter’s lips quirked up in a small smile.


	2. A chance encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear you always think youre writing heaps and then you post it and it's legit nothing haha end me  
> anyway  
> heres chapter 2 bc chapter 1 was just an opening, trigger warning for this one - contains violence and attempted sexual assault

Carter hadn’t been able to pay attention to anything all day. In every class she had with Peter, they studiously ignored each other, but neither could deny the small glances that were snuck when each thought the other wasn't looking.

True to her outburst, Flash stayed at least 5 feet away from them all day, sneaking furtive glances her way and sitting as far away as possible in class. She had a lot on her mind but did notice that his behaviour was a little bizarre.

The final bell rang and everyone raced from the classroom, Carter included. She waited at the front gate with the smallest hope that Peter may come anyway, but shook her head and chastised herself for being an idiot less than a minute later.

Throwing her backpack onto her shoulder she set off down the familiar route home. She stopped short a couple blocks from her apartment when she noticed roadwork blocking her way through the main road. The whole street was blocked off after some sort of explosion destroyed the sandwich shop her and Peter used to love. She knew a bunch of the alleys nearby were useful substitutes for the main road and headed for them cautiously.

Gripping her bag straps tightly, she edged into the nearest alley, took a deep breath and strode as confidently as possible down the path. It was no secret that Carter had fears about the dark, most people do, so she kept her footsteps light, trying to make as little noise as possible. A couple blocks later and she was just one block away from her apartment. Although her heart still raced and the itch to constantly look behind her hadn't faded, she was feeling a little better about her detour.

That was until she heard the scuffling sound of footsteps. Not one, not two, but three sets of feet hitting the pavement directly behind her. She quickened her steps and trained her eyes straight ahead following the maze of alleys, her hands balled into fists so tightly they dug half moons into her palm.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and she couldn't help herself as she stole a quick glance behind her. 

No-one there?

The alley was empty…

She sighed and silently berated herself for her paranoia but her mind was itching and when she turned back around she froze.

“Hey pretty girl, what a strange place to find a young thing like you. All alone too.. how interesting”, a voice crooned.

The voice belonged to a large man, his beard was roughly shorn and dark clothes and a dark cap obscured his features. Your eyes travelled down to see him casually tossing a gun from hand to hand

She stuttered for a moment and took a fast step back, heart racing she collided with a solid chest behind her. She gasped and turned to run but two hands grabbed her backpack and threw it to the floor before wrenching her arms behind her back and holding her still.

“What do you want?”, She breathed, not trusting her voice to speak any louder.

“Just a little fun… for me at least”, was the low reply from the man with the gun.

Ugly, disgusting truth.

She tried slipping out of the second mans grip but it was too tight, making a split second decision she slammed a heel into her captors foot. As his head came forward in pain she threw her own head back and it connected with his nose with a wet crunch. The grip on her arms released and she fell forward, jumping up quickly and turning to run. Pain shot through her skull and she screamed as her head was wrenched back by a large hand in her hair and a third man appeared in front of her, growling before whipping his hand across her face. 

She felt the hard impact and her eyes watered as she fell. The grip on her hair was released and her knees hit the ground hard. 

“Shut her up will you”, grunted the third man and he smiled down at her with crooked teeth.

She opened her mouth to scream for help but a meaty hand fastened around her neck and lifted her up to shoved her into the wall. Her back slammed into the bricks and her vision blurred as her head cracked back. She let out a small whimper upon impact and was certain that her knees would have buckled if not for the hands pressing her into the wall.

Blinking to clear her vision, the hand left her throat but her breath hitched as the pressure was immediately replaced by the cool metal barrel of a gun pressed roughly under her jaw. Her breaths were coming short and fast as his body smothered her and her eyes darted around the alley frantically as he trailed the gun up to her temple. The gun was like nothing she’d ever seen before, bits of cool metal mixed with iridescent rocks that glowed and sizzled.

“You like this?”, the man chuckled, “bought it for a hefty price but it really is a work of art”.

She went still as death as the man leaned forward to press his nose against her cheek

“You smell like berries”, he rasped.

She clenched her teeth, squeezed shut her eyes and let out a slow shaky breath as his hand slowly reached for the bottom of her t-shirt.

Then, blessedly, the pressure along her body and temple was gone and she heard a loud bang followed by a grunt of pain. Her eyes flew open and her heart felt like it was going to beat through her chest as her knees gave out and she crumpled to the ground. Looking up, she saw the most peculiar scene.

Large clumps of white webbing adorned the alley. Two of her attackers were unconscious; one drooling onto the pavement and the other upright and stuck to the wall, head lolling.

The third was wiping the webbing from his eyes and pointing the gun shakily at the darkness, face slack with fear, eyes wide. The gun was wrenched from his grip faster than her eyes could see and a figure in red and blue came crashing into him, throwing him into the wall.

She couldn't believe her eyes, she’d heard about Spiderman, everyone had, but she had never been able to think of him as anything other than the latest media scoop. He fired two more webs from his wrists and her attacker’s hands were pinned to the wall next to him, blubbering as Spiderman stalked towards him.

So many emotions racketed through her. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to run.  
She wanted to beat the shit out of the man now trembling against the wall.

She spotted her bag on the ground, meters away and she moved to snatch it but her limbs felt like jelly and her head throbbed and with a small noise she collapsed back to the ground.

Spiderman’s head whipped towards her and his hands clenched into fists as he took a step in her direction. Stopping for a second he turned to the man and fired a series of rapid punches at his face.

The man was unconscious by now but the punches kept on raining until Carter croaked out a single word, “Stop”.

The punches ceased and Spiderman’s chest rose and fell in quick, angry breaths before he unclenched his fists and rushed to her side. 

“A-Are you okay?”, he managed through gritted teeth.

Her head was swimming with pain, and intelligent thought was becoming harder and harder.

His voice was younger and lighter than she’d expected, somewhat comforting, but nevertheless was tight with concern and anger.

“I-I think… I don’t… I can’t… I…”, she trailed off, well aware that she was in shock but still unable to overcome it to form a sentence.  
Spiderman’s hands flitted over her anxiously before sucking in a breath, looping his arms around her and picking her up, “It’s okay, I’ve got you” he soothed.

She groaned in pain as the throbbing in her head increased and slowly the darkness began to creep in.

Concussion, she thought blearily. She thought about the games she used to play with Peter, self diagnosing themselves with elaborate illnesses based on google doctor and non-existent symptoms. She couldn't help it as a hysterical laugh bubbled over her lips.   
Spiderman titled his head towards her in concern and clutched her tighter to his chest

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry”, He whispered as he carried her away, the words puncturing only slightly into her subconscious. Just a small bump on the head she mused just before the darkness took over and she slipped out of consciousness.


	3. Just a small bump on the head

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAH THANK YOU EVERYONE WHOS GIVEN THIS A GO you guys are amazing - Just a heads up I've actually finished writing this so I'll probs just be adding one or two chapters a week for you guys xxx enjoyy

Carter woke to incessant beeping and a dull throb at the back of her head. She lay for a moment with her eyes closed before her memory returned and she gasped, bolting upright, wincing at the jolt of pain it sent through her head. Her eyes darted around the room until they landed on a jumble of limbs lolling over a hospital chair in a way that only Peter could have made look comfortable. Looking at the clock on the wall she discovered that it was past midnight and groaned.

Taking a deep breath she dropped her head into her hands and pushed her palms tightly against her eyes.

When she felt warm hands against hers, pulling her hands from her face, she didn’t resist but continued to look down at the white sheets of her hospital bed with an emotion that she registered as shame.

“Cart?”, Peter’s soft voice sounded safe and warm and exactly the opposite of everything she felt at the moment and she couldn't help it as hot tears brimmed at her eyes and fell down her cheeks.

Peter’s warm hands moved from her hands to her cheeks and he gently lifted her face, wiping the tears with his thumbs.

The shame she felt was rising again and she inhaled deeply before letting out a low chuckle and pushing it down. She gave Peter a small smile and offered, “not quite sure what I expected from a dark alley at night, I’m such an idiot”.

Peter was less than amused and he opened his mouth with no doubt some placating argument but she cut him off.

“He saved me you know”, She laughed, clasping Peter’s wrists in her hands and withdrawing them from her face. As she gripped them she looked down and subconsciously ran her fingers along the numerous scabs across each of his knuckles, frowning, “Spiderman saved me”, she continued.

She pulled her hands back when she realised what she was doing and Peter dropped his onto the bed, both of them continued staring at them for a beat.

“They told me that he brought you in… You were unconscious and concussed and your neck…” he trailed off shaking his head in frustration.

True… her ability soothed.

She reached up to her neck and felt the tenderness, grimacing she asked, “…bruised?”

Peter let out a breath, eyes fixed on the wall and nodded, “I’m sorry about what I said at school this morning. I’m sorry about a lot of things, I should have walked you—“

“No, Pete, stop its my fault”, she cut him off, “You offered to walk with me… thats not even the point! I was being selfish, this…” she trailed off, laying her palms out flat, “…internship” She ground out, always finding it hard to say the word, “is your dream and you should do what you have to for it. Anyway, we both would have ended up in hospital if you had come so thank god you didn’t”, she finished with a laugh.

She couldn’t believe that it had only been that morning that she was pretending to flirt with Flash and stealing glances at Peter in class.

Peter shook his head, at a loss for words.

“You talk in your sleep you know, heard my name a couple times”, he grinned.

Embarrassingly true…

Carter groaned dramatically and threw a pillow at him, delighted to hear his laugh again, “was just dreaming about who's ass I was gonna kick when I woke up”, she teased.

Peter’s face fell slightly and opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the arrival of the doctor.

“Ah! Miss Moore, glad to see you're up, you’ve been cleared for discharge”, he exclaimed.

Carter’s mum was filling out forms at the reception and Carter was greeted by tears, hugs and more than a few light accusing punches to her shoulder.

“HOW ARE YOU FEELING”, she practically shrieked at her.

“Hah, I feel like this is more of a case of ‘you should see the other guy’”, Carter laughed nervously.

“I broke one of their noses I think”, she whispered to Peter proudly, “Spiderman did the rest though”, she conceded.

Peter nervously scratched the back of his head and they both sat down on some nearby seats while Mrs. Moore finished the forms.

"I'm glad you're here Pete”, Carter smiled.

Peter was silent for a moment, he chewed on his lip, thinking hard about his question before he asked tentatively, "What happened back there, did they... did he…”

"No! No, no nothing like that I mean it might have been like that but it wasn't. Spiderman came before… it got like that”, she finished lamely.

"What was he like" Peter pressed, forehead creasing.

“Who, Spiderman? Honestly… A little scary", She admitted. 

Peter looked down at his feet, "Scary? How? You didn’t think he would have hurt you did you?"

She pondered his comment for a second, "I don't really know, he was... very angry, you should have seen what he did to one of the guys" she shuddered, "I think he was close to killing him". 

Peter studied his feet, fiddling with the bottom of his t-shirt. 

"Not to say I'm not grateful! I am, man I sound like a brat. All I mean is that I hope he figures out whatever it is that’s giving him issues", She finished.

Just as she finished her sentence the doors burst open and two police officers and two paramedics screeched past wheeling in a man who's face was bloodied, purple and swollen; bits of white webbing were still adorning him like a christmas tree.

She caught snippets of conversation from the police as they strode past.   
“Spiderman really did a number on him-”  
“-must have been real angry”  
“-Haven’t seen this much aggression since the early days”  
Carter stood up sharply and froze, her blood ran cold as they passed and when her eyes connected with the patient’s, the handcuffs securing him to the stretcher clanged and his vicious gaze rooted her to the spot.

In a split second, a solid back and shoulders obscured her view as Peter stepped in front of her. She couldn't see his face but his hands were balled into tight fists and his body trembled. 

She placed a hand lightly on the centre of his back. 

"Pete?" She said quietly, peering around at his face, "it's okay, can we just leave?”, she was frustrated with how small she felt and sounded but her eyes were heavy and she was weary and for the moment, couldn't find it within herself to care.

"You have to press charges Carter", Peter frowned. 

She frowned back at him, tilting her head in thought.   
Peter’s reaction was unnervingly fast, how he had known that this man was her attacker eluded her.  
But the throbbing in her head and the aching in her neck pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind.

“Later…" she said dismissively, ”please Pete let’s go home", she finished with a sigh.


	4. Half Truths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chap 4 enjooyyyyy

When Carter woke the next morning (blissfully a Saturday) she let her mind wander tentatively to the events of the previous evening. She still thought of the events as if it had happened to a completely different person, most particularly her encounter with Spiderman. Despite the rage she witnessed him unleash, she also saw kindness and comfort, a soothing voice, strong arms…

She shook her head, huffing.  
Since when was I such a love sick fool, she pondered.

Launching herself out of bed, she trotted down to the kitchen, eyebrows shooting up as she took in the sight before her.

Peter was in the kitchen wearing her mum’s hello kitty apron cooking… bacon?

The smell was incredible and Carter couldn't help it as a moan slipped from her lips.

With a start, Peter spun around, a wide grin splitting across his face, “GOOOOOOD MORNING SUNSHINE”, he crowed.

A smile of her own started to creep across her lips and she plonked herself down on the table with a breathy “g’mornin Pete… might I ask what on earth you're doing and where on earth my mother is”.

“Ah Mrs. Moore is out with Aunt May and what does it look like I’m doing”, he stated, scraping some bacon onto a plate with an egg and sliding it across the table to her.

“How dare you try to lighten my mood with bacon! AND HOW DARE IT WORK SO WELL!”, she grinned, digging in immediately.

Peter chuckled and started digging in to his own plate, “I’m thinking… Doctor Who marathon? If we try hard enough we can probably watch all of Eccleston before dinnertime, mayyybee even a little bit of tennant”, He said waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“I’ll call Ned”, Carter announced.

“I’ll get the popcorn”, Peter beamed.

This was basically how the weekend went and for a moment, everything was back to normal. 

The lies we tell to ourselves are often the sweetest…

~

Getting ready for school on Monday, Carter was in a daze. Her neck was a yellowing collar of tender flesh and while makeup could cover the bruises, it was useless against the ugly feeling in her belly.

Peter accompanied Carter on the way to school, and although she knew it wouldn't last, she was thankful for the pretence of normalcy.   
They split for a moment and headed for their own lockers and Carter opened hers with quick fingers. She felt like a completely different person to the Carter that had stood here only three days before but everything around her was exactly the same; all that was missing was-

“-heyy beautiful no berries today?”.

Carter jerked back and accidentally slammed her locker closed with her elbow.

A howl ripped from Flash’s mouth as his fingers were jammed in her locker and he clutched them to his chest, expression livid as he turned to her. Carter sucked in a sharp breath and found herself taking a step back before Peter pushed himself between her and Flash.

Flash eyed her with with a mixture of contempt and confusion, “chill out jumpy…”, he scoffed before turning around and stalking off down the hall, his fingers still cradled in his hand.

“Whats up with her”, said a voice to her left.

“I heard she got attacked by a crazy ex boyfriend”, Carter heard a whispered reply.

“My daddy works at the hospital and I heard she was just faking it to get Spiderman's attention”, Said another.

“Teagan, your dad works in the flower job on the ground floor”

“Yah, but its still in the hospital! Whatever… Carter’s so weird…”

Peter turned around with concern, placing his hands on her shoulders “Are you okay?”.

“I’m fine” She snarled harsher than intended. Peter put his hands up defensively and she mumbled an apology, grimacing ruefully, “let’s just go to class, please”.

~

Carter’s final class for the day was history and when the teacher passed around the box for everyone to put their assignments in her stomach dropped. She had completely forgotten about it. Glancing at Peter to her right she hissed, “holy shit I didn’t do it oh my god I totally blanked”. 

Peter’s eyes widened and he pulled his out, scribbling out his name, he started writing her’s before she clamped a hand down on his. 

“What the hell are you doing!?”, she demanded in a low whisper.

“It’s fine I can do extra credit don’t worry my marks are good enough!”, he whispered back.

Carter shook her head and sighed, “What did I do to deserve you… Don’t even think about it”, she murmured with a laugh, snatching his paper and re-writing his name before dropping it in the box being passed around.

He moved to grab it back but she caught his hands, holding a sly grin until the box was out of reach. He squinted at her playfully and gave her a dopey smile, eyes flickering down to her lips for half a second before he looked down at their hands and the beginning of a blush crept across his face.

“Miss Moore, where is your report?”, the teachers voice came from the front of the classroom.

Carter’s grin slid off her face and she ripped her hands away from Peter’s, managing to school a remorseful look onto her face before replying, “Captain America took it to proof read and never gave it back”.

Peter snorted.

A vaguely familiar releasing feeling resonated in her skull and she frowned as a range of emotions flashed across the teachers face; confusion, wonder, curiosity, awe, as if she actually believed her.

“I was just joking Miss… I’m sorry I didn’t realise it was due today” Carter provided.  
Just like that the spell was broken, “the school was informed of your… altercation. In light of this I will give you an extension until Wednesday”, the teacher said distractedly before shuffling away.

 

~

By Wednesday, Peter was back to his old ways and to make matter’s worse, Ned was also acting strange. They spent all afternoons together and when Carter asked them about it, Ned just stared at her before pretending his phone was ringing and had to take a call.   
When she asked Peter she was gutted to hear him say, “this and that… last night we tried building the death star, I uh thought you’d be busy with your assignment”.

More half truths

She was in fact busy with it but that was beside the point.

At lunch that day she sat across from Michelle, both of them eating in silence waiting for Peter and Ned but by halftime neither had shown up so with a huff Carter headed for the library instead. Lunchtimes for the rest of the week were spent in the library and Carter’s heart was heavy with sadness when the weekend came and she was still shut out of the trio.

On Saturday Carter was surprised by a knock on her door and Peter’s muffled voice calling her name. She opened the door, unimpressed, and Peter practical fell through. Righting himself and smiling widely, “Carter!”, he exclaimed, “Just uh came over to ask if you were coming to Liz’s party”, he said nervously, “Aunt May can drive us! Please come, we’ve barely hung out all week”.

She scoffed and turned her back on him, “you guys are the ones with your secret project…”, she muttered.

Peter scrunched up his face, “I’m really sorry Carter we didn’t mean to leave you hanging just…” he dropped dramatically to his knees and clasped his hands together, shaking them at her, “please, please, please come, it’ll be fun”, he ended the sentence with a pout and Carter shoved him in the chest lightly.

“Why do I put up with you”, she sighed and he accepted her hand with a hopeful smile as she pulled him back up to his feet. She could never stay mad at Peter so she relented and an hour later she was in the back seat with Ned poking at his hat and cracking Indiana Jones jokes as if nothing were amiss.


	5. Revelation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm pretty all over the place with my uploading... but here's a cute one for yall xx

“Is he picking up???”, Carter asked for the 4th time, leaning against Ned and trying to listen to the phone pressed to his ear.

The music at the party was loud and she kept getting jostled by the rowdy crowd.

Ned shook his head in exasperation, “I don’t know where he went he just took off, I’m sure he has a good reason”

Carter groaned in frustration and grabbed her jacket, “that’s it, I’m going home”, she stalked out the front door and grabbed a drink as she left, downing it in one go and spluttering when the burn raced down her throat. Growling, she threw the cup into a bush and slammed the door on the crowd chanting “PENIS PARKER” behind her.

The second the taxi dropped her home she stumbled for her room, frustrated tears threatened to burst free but she held them in and crawled into bed, pulling the covers up tightly and pressing her face into her pillow, she stumbled into a restless sleep.

~

Barely 30 minutes later Carter woke in darkness to the sound of the window next to her bed being edged open, she blinked a couple times and moved to shuffle out of bed before a large, heavy shadow fell through the window and landed directly onto her. 

The breath was knocked out of her with an ooft. She quickly recognised the object as a person and the beginning of a shout left her lips before a hand clamped over her mouth and two huge white eyes came into view. A muffled squeak was all she could manage while her hands came up push against the chest of the body pinning her to her mattress. 

“SHHHHH”, came an insistent voice.

Her heart in her throat, her breathing all but stopped as her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she realised, hovering above her, was Spiderman.

Her eyes widened and her breaths picked up again at a frantic pace.

“Sh sh shhhh”, the voice came again, “calm down Cart it’s okay it’s me!”, he removed his hand from her mouth quickly and ripped off his mask, wincing as he threw it to the floor.

Carter’s mouth dropped open and she closed it and opened it multiple times as she took in the familiar mop of curly brown hair and the warm brown eyes of her best friend.

“PETE!?” she shrieked.

His hand slammed down on her mouth again and he scrunched up his face, “SHHHHHHH!”.  
He opened his mouth to say something but he sniffed slightly before his eyes narrowed and he hissed, “have you been drinking??”.

That’s when she noticed the blood. His face was purple and blue, his lip was bleeding, he had small cuts along his arms and chest, and a deeper gash on his shoulder. Carter reached up and gripped the hand against her mouth, sliding it off gently before placing her hands gently on his chest and pushing him backwards to sit up.

“Pete, you’re bleeding”, she whispered, ignoring the question.

Peter’s face was hard to read and Carter’s hands hovered over his body at a loss for what to do as he leaned against the wall, “I know I don’t deserve it but I really need your help”, he groaned. 

Her mind was sluggish and piecing it all together was harder than it should have been but everything was clicking into place. The unexpected exits, unexplained bruises, the lies, the half truths, the fucking ‘stark internship’.

Her best friend had abilities too.

A short sob escaped from her mouth and Peter gazed at her, waiting for her to speak.

“I’m gonna get the first aid kit”, she whispered.

Peter nodded mutely and stood up with a wince as Carter raced from the room, her slightly unsteady gait didn’t elude Peter. She came back with the kit and Peter hit a button on his suit, releasing it he stepped out in his underwear. 

Carter sucked in a breath and froze for a second blinking at him, eyes trailing down, she noticed a faint glowing purple object in his hand, “what is that?”.

“Not sure, one of the bad guys dropped it I think. It’s probably got something to do with these weapons they’re selling”, Peter replied, a hint of excitement evident in the rise in his voice.

She peered at it with an odd frown, it was iridescent purple and almost looked like it sizzled. 

She stared at him for a moment longer before shaking her head quickly, making him sit on the edge of her bed and tended to his wounds. With quick hands she disinfected and bandaged them at a record pace and warned him more than once that he was going to tell her everything or she was going to clock him.

“This ones going to need stitches”, she murmured as she cleaned the gash on his shoulder.

“I heal fast it’s fine just tape it closed for now”, his voice was low and hoarse and he watched her face the whole while as she studiously avoided eye contact.

“You never drink… whats going on?”, Peter asked in a pained voice.

“It was only one cup, not a big deal, thought it was mixed I dunno…”, she said in a tone that signalled she wasn’t going to continue talking about it.  
As her mind picked up the pace, she made it to the last wound and her hands shook as she pulled back. Peter reached up and took her hands in his, removing the gauze from her grip and placing it in the bin, as he dropped it in he spied the bottle of the berry scented perfume he’d bought for her upended inside and looked away sharply.

She stepped out of his grasp quickly and opened her wardrobe pulling out some of Peter’s clothes that he’d left behind over years, passing them to him with an averted gaze.

“Are you okay?”, she asked quietly after he was finished getting dressed.

He nodded his head jerkily but the corners of his mouth quirked up a little, “like I said, bad guys… there was this huge bird man with giant metal wings and these glowing green eyes and he snatched me out of the air and…” she listened intently but he trailed off and despite herself she was intrigued.

“Cart I’m so sorry-“, he started.

“Pete no… its okay please don’t apologise I-“, her eyes widened a fraction, “that was you in the alley, oh my god, this whole time I thought… I was so angry at you, I’m the one that should be apologising!”.

“No, you don’t! Everything that’s gone wrong with our friendship is my fault I should have told you sooner but I was a coward, I was so wrapped up in myself I didn’t realise I was losing you anyway…” 

He stopped for a second and sucked in a breath before he continued.

“But then that night in the alley and I heard a scream and when I arrived and it was you… and those guys… and then I saw the gun and and and he was about to-” He stuttered, blinking back tears he shook his head angrily, looking down and twisting at the bottom of his sweater, “Whats the point in these abilities if I can’t even protect the people I care about… I let you down Cart” his eyes started to fill with tears and he wiped them away angrily with his sleeve and sat down on the bed.

The people I care about

The words repeated in her head over and over.

The people I care about

She didn’t even realise she was moving until she had enveloped him in a tight hug. She placed her chin on top of his head and she felt his arms wrap around her waist tightly. He pushed his face into her neck and released a shaky breath.   
“At least you’re doing something with your abilities”, she murmured.  
He shook his head, face still firmly planted in her neck, she felt the wetness of his tears on her skin and she gazed out the window.

They stayed motionless for a time before Peter began tugging on her. He lifted his head and murmured, “I should let you sleep, I’ll go”, but still he didn’t move, still he clutched the back of her shirt in his hands as if it were the only thing holding him to the earth.

“Stay”, Carter breathed, “just for tonight”.

Peter nodded wearily and they lay down, still clutching each other, both of them asleep the instant their heads hit the pillow.


	6. Nationals

Carter woke in the morning to the sound of frantic voices.

“HE DIDN’T COME HOME, HE WENT TO THAT PARTY IN THE SUBURBS WITH CARTER, IS SHE HOME”, Aunt May screeched in the living room.  
Pounding footsteps followed the outburst and a knock pounded the door followed a fraction of a second later by the door itself bursting open.

“Carter??”, Mrs Moore’s voice was filled with relief, “thank God, have you spoken to- oh”

She stopped short as the sight of Carter and Peter curled around each other, foreheads touching on the pillow they were sharing.

“HAS SHE SPOKEN TO- oh”, Aunt May came to a screeching halt.

“Oh, um good morning”, Carter sat up, fixing her gaze on a point on her wall and nudging the prone figure face down next to her

“Whats all the racket about”, a sleepy voice mumbled from under a messy mop of brown hair. 

Peter sat up slowly and Carter was astonished to see his bruises were practically healed, although she noticed him wince and touch his shoulder lightly over the spot the gash was. His eyes widening he froze, mouth forming an O, “uuummm, we were just sleeping I didn’t, we weren’t, we just-”.

Mrs. Moore turned to Aunt May in outrage, “Noooo”, she whined.

Aunt May punched the air and held a hand out, “I believe someone owes me $20”.

Carter and Peter shared a long glance, “We’re just friends”, they blurted out at the same time.

Mrs. Moore afforded them a level stare before her face split into a grin, “breakfasts in 10!”, she quipped before she left the room arm in arm with Aunt May.

~

In school the following week all animosity had fallen away from the trio, replaced by a new weirdness between Peter and Carter but a general camaraderie. Despite standing a solid 3 feet apart at all times the conversations between the two were back to usual.

“Do you think we’d get powers if we ate it”, Ned whispered.

Peter and Carter stared at him blankly and shook their heads before turning their attention back to ‘the glowey thing’ as it had been dubbed.

“It’s a power source”, Carter mumbled, “I mean that’s just a guess…”, she added when they looked at her strangely.

In shop class the three had set to examining the purple rock and found that it had the most unusual qualities. High energy readings and erratic electric behaviour Peter smashed at it with a hammer and it took off 4 feet across the room with a bang and barely a glance from their bored teacher. 

"It has to be alien!" Ned exclaimed in the hall after class. 

"Don't be ridiculous" Carter replied but couldn't say that she was entirely convinced it wasn't. 

Two maintenance guys rounded the corner in front of them, talking in hushed voices. 

Carter immediately felt a hand at her back and both she and Ned let out a small noise as Peter grabbed them by their shirts and dragged them around a corner. 

"What is wrong with y-" Ned started, straightening his shirt with a huff. 

"Shut up!", Peter whispered quickly, "those guys back there! They're the ones that attacked me!" 

Carter eyes widened and she peered around the corner. Sure enough those two maintenance guys were not what they seemed and she eyed a gun holstered to each of their hips before they slipped into the empty shop classroom. 

Carter stole down the hallway like a wraith, dodging Peter’s attempt to grab her and ignoring the soft growl she elicited from him. She edged open the classroom door open and slipped inside followed quietly by Peter. She dove quickly behind the teachers desk and Peter crawled under a work bench. 

The two “maintenance guys” were grumbling about an energy reading coming from the classroom and it dawned on Carter that they were tracking the pulse that was released when Peter hit the rock earlier that day.

Carter’s blood boiled and she clenched her hands into fists as she listened to them.

She heard shuffling as the two men left the classroom and she popped up from behind the desk with wide eyes, “where do you think they're going”, she whispered to Peter.

Peter grinned and held out his hand, flicking his wrist a 3D map of the city blossomed with a red dot in motion in the centre, “I planted a tracker, we’ll know soon enough”.

~

The bus was ready to leave and Peter and Carter skidded up just in time. The night before they’d all stayed up late in Peter’s room tracking the two men from the school to find that they'd stopped somewhere near Washington DC. Upon remembering that decathlon nationals were being held there the next day, Peter was immediately motivated to re-join the team. Flash was furious as he was demoted to first replacement which made it all the more sweeter.

Nationals passed like a blur and their team won easily. Peter had left his room to track the men down the night before the championship and hadn’t returned since leaving Carter worried out of her mind and Flash literally giddy. 

The team was off to see the Washington monument that day and Carter tried admirably to distract herself, using the bus ride to study the glowey thing Ned was keeping in his backpack.  
“Do you reckon it’s trackable when its stable”, she asked Ned.

“Honestly, it doesn’t look like it gives off any power unless its being attacked by a hammer”, Ned laughed.

When they reached the monument they walked easily through security and into the lift to take them up.

When they had almost reached the top Carter turned to ask Ned a question when she noticed that the rock was glowing intensely, it’s light visible from outside the backpack. She frowned and was reaching for the bag when all hell broke loose.

A bright flash of purple light shot for the roof and a grating sound split the air as the lift ground to a clanging halt. The top of the lift had been blown almost completely apart and Ned dropped his backpack in fright as it pulsed purple.

“Ned holy shit its the rock i think it's exploding!”, Carter hissed, panic turning her voice to a squeak.

The elevator shook again and the occupants screamed as it jolted downwards a metre.

Flash was blubbering in the corner as security from outside pried the doors open above them and starting lifting people out from the roof, but the wires holding the lift were straining and with a final twang, the lift plummeted.

As fast as it fell, it came to a halt and Carter looked up to see that a familiar red and blue figure had caught the lift with a long taut web. Her heart still thundered in her chest but she let out a brief sigh of relief. Her relief didn’t last long and full fledged panic re-appeared as Spiderman’s anchor broke and he came tumbling down into the lift. 

He hit the floor of the lift with a thud and the lift raced for the ground once again.  
“PE-“, Carter started but clamped a hand over her mouth and stopped short as he released another web and rendered them motionless again.

“EVERYONE GET OUT”, came a shout from behind the mask and everyone was immediately spurred into action. The lift doors were wrenched open and emergency personnel reached for each student one at a time. 

Carter was the second last to be pulled from the lift and despite the obvious strain that Peter was under, she noticed his almost imperceptible sigh as she was pulled to safety and staff moved to help Liz.

Spiderman turned to her, “we need to stop meeting like this Carter”, he announced in a a deep voice.

She would have laughed and she almost did, if not at the deep voice but at the awed glances she was receiving from her classmates but right at that moment the last string of webbing broke and her eyes widened in horror as the lift fell and Liz fell with it.

Flinging a hand out Peter caught her with a grunt and lifted her to the safety of the landing. Carter loosed a breath but narrowed her eyes as Liz batted her eyelashes, thanked him and placed a kiss on the cheek of his mask. The pair stared at each other for a moment and Carter was tempted to clear her throat when her breathing stopped all together.

The web Peter was using to suspend himself snapped and he followed the lift with nothing more than an air of irritation. She peered over the edge in panic and caught a glimpse of him slowing his descent before personnel pulled her away and accompanied the group back down to solid ground.

~

"You could have died! Holy shit that was too close, no, no, no, this is too dangerous, you gotta stay out of this”, Peter babbled. He was dressed in his Spiderman suit and Carter had rushed to close the blinds as he paced the room with his mask off.

It wasn’t too long after the incident at the Washington monument and Peter was still visibly shaken, his voice rose an octave every time he spoke about her close brush with death.

"Just tell me where you're going! Those guys are dangerous, you can get hurt too!”, Carter begged. 

Peter had been refusing for the past hour to fill her in on the information he’d gathered about the men selling weapons.

“No, don’t worry I’m not going to do much, just catch them in the act. Look… I'll be alright just wait here”, Peter said firmly.

“You’re intercepting a deal aren't you”, Carter eyed him accusingly, “I’m guessing your plan is to just shoot a couple webs at them and leave them for the police? What’s that supposed to do, you need evidence, you need a confession or a witness or… ANYTHING”.

Peter frowned at her silently.

“Pete”, she continued, “these are bad people, they have to be held accountable for their actions! Who knows who they’re selling weapons to! They’re going to hurt more people!”

“What is this really about Carter?”, Peter challenged. 

Carter froze and her mind went blank, stuttering for a second before closing her mouth and looking away.

“Is this about-“, Peter started

“I will press charges when I’m ready Peter… I just… I can’t… I’d have to…”, her voice was quiet and Peter wanted to hit himself for bringing up.

“Don’t worry about it It’s taken care of”, he murmured.

Carter’s brows furrowed, “what’s that supposed to mean?”.

Peter glanced at the clock and ignored her question, “I have to go”, he announced and he headed for the window.

“Peter stop.”

He didn’t.

“Peter, tell me where you're going right now”, she seethed.

Exhale

She was so consciously aware of it this time she physically took a step backward as she FINALLY understood.

Her powers were evolving.

Peter turned back around slowly. 

"Stanton island ferry, noon. Some sort of arms deal", he blinked, "just.... stay here”, then he was gone. 

Carter stood rooted to the spot. 

She made him say that. She made him tell her. She didn't mean to but she did.

Her mind raced. 

She glanced at the clock.

10am

Snatching up her bag she raced for the front door, passing her mum as she did. She stopped and backtracked for a second, stopping in front of the couch.

“Whats the matter?”, Mrs. Moore asked, looking up from her book.

Carter squinted her eyes and concentrated.

“Mum…”, she announced, “I am best friends with Thor”

Her mum looked at with amusement, “Sure you a-“

Exhale

She froze, her smile dropped from her face and she peered at Carter with furrowed brows, “But… how is that possible, that’s… oh my goodness… when did you…” she trailed off, her confusion and her belief written plainly across her face as her mouth opened and closed in silence.

The pair stared at each other, at a loss for words. Carter held the stare and as she did she became aware of a tension. A feeling like crackling electricity between her brows, and as soon as she felt it…

Snap

The feeling was fractured and both mother and daughter flinched.

“Don’t be silly…”, her mother said distractedly. She blinked a couple times, shook her head and returned to her book as Carter silently slipped out the door and headed for the subway.


	7. Risky Dealings

With her cap pulled low, Carter picked a seat on the main floor of the ferry and pulled her phone out to look busy. As the ferry left the wharf she scanned the seats but wasn’t really sure what she was looking for. There were a lot of men that could have matched the descriptions she’d heard from Peter and almost all of them looked shifty enough.

10 minutes passed and Carter refused to give up. She stood up and with a stretch and scanned the windows that afforded a view of the outside seating. Almost immediately her eyes zeroed in on a man on a bench outside. This man, she was sure she had seen before and with enough concentration she recognised him as one of the guys who had posed as maintenance men back at her high school. 

As she noticed him, he stood up and adjusted his belt before heading down the outside stairs to the lower level, out of sight.

Carter gripped her phone, unlocking it and opening the voice recording app. She kept her gait light and relaxed but followed as swiftly as possible. Stepping outside and squinting against the wind she headed for the stairs as well. She she caught a glimpse of him rounding a corner and halted him with a short, “hey!”.

He jumped slightly before turning around and she noticed his expression shift from something akin to fear, to a haughty smirk.

She held out her closed fist and squeaked, “you dropped something!”.

He frowned in confusion and took a step towards her and she locked her gaze onto his with wide eyes.

“I’m looking for the boss, he wanted me in on this, remind me… why are you here, what’s going on, where’s the boss and… what’s he wearing?”, she questioned quickly. Her finger’s tingled, her face went red and she could feel her heart like a jackhammer in her chest.

He was silent for a moment and she honestly considered jumping over board.

Blissful exhale

“Boss is inside, wearing the green cap and navy jacket. He’s doin a weapons deal with this dude Mac Gargan, huge deal, weapons in the truck downstairs, should be going down any minute”, he deadpanned.

Carter was furious, there was a moment of silence and she held her breath, eye’s wide, hands shaking, she didn’t move a muscle and he in turn just stared at her blankly.

The tension between her brows was crackled and she ignored it, finally grinding out, “If you don’t knock yourself out right now, you and everyone you love is going to die”.

The man’s face went white, his jaw went slack, his body went rigid and his nostrils flared. His knees buckled and he hit the floor of the stairs with a thud causing Carter to skip back a step as his hands scrambled for something, anything, across the floors and walls of the stairway.

Carter blinked in horror and lost her concentration with a sharp mental snap.

The man’s frantic movement’s stopped and he heaved deep breaths, “what the f-“, his brief exclamation was cut short as Carter aimed a powerful kick to his temple.

“Holy shit”, she squeaked, skipping around his unconscious form and taking off down the rest of the stairs.

Racing around the corner she ran head first into a man who quickly shot his arms out to steady her.   
“Heyy kid are you alright?”, he said warmly, concern evident in his voice.

Carter breathed deeply and nodded, looking up at him with a small smile, but the smile froze on her face and she bit her tongue hard as she took in his green cap and navy jacket.

Before she could stop herself she blurted out, “I’m here on behalf of Mr. Gargan!”.

The man in front of her still had his hands on her arms and she felt his grip tighten as she said the words and the corresponding exhale failed to release.

The grip on her forearms became painful and she stuttered unintelligently as his face twisted and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

He clicked his tongue and shook his head menacingly, “now what would you know about that missy”, he crooned.  
Taking a deep breath Carter lifted her chin defiantly, ignoring the fingers digging into her arms, the gun strapped to his hip and the smell of dirt and gasoline emanating from him.

“I’m here on behalf of Mr. Gargan”, she repeated, “Tell me about the tech, where it’s from, what it’s for and where you’re keeping it”, she ground out.

Exhale

His grip loosened almost immediately and he took a step backwards as Carter rushed to do the same.

“Of course, thought I was meeting you in the car park…”, he toned before shrugging, “It’s alien, original stuffs from the wreckage from the battle of New York in 2012, we get a lot of this stuff from damage control, basically use ‘em for weapons to sell, it’s in the truck, you coming or what?”.

Although her blood was boiling, Carter schooled her face into blankness and nodded, pursing her lips to keep her concentration. She followed the boss towards the car park and flicked her eyes in every direction, suddenly very aware of her predicament. The pressure between her brows was bearable for the moment but her concentration was wavering as her mind raced for an exit strategy.

She saw a flicker of red to her right but when she noticed the boss watching her warily she focussed her line of sight ahead of her once more. Flexing her hands, the pressure was building and she found herself having to blink rapidly as they neared the cars and a man stepped out in front of them.

He was short with numerous scars and a large tattoo on his face.

“Gargan!”, the boss exclaimed.

Carter’s face went white and she saw the flicker of red again as she turned to the newcomer.

Before he could utter a word, Carter put a hand up in a friendly wave, “Hey! You said you trusted me to do the deal for you!”, she yelled and when the exhale came she almost groaned at the added pressure between her brows.

Mac stopped short and peered at her.

“yes…”, he drew out, “I did say that… Not sure why I said it though…”

Carter realised her mistake too late and she took a fast step back as both Gargan and the boss drew their guns, confusion evident on their faces, but the threat evident in their eyes.

The pain was incredible and she pushed a palm against her brow when-

“Hey, everyone, whaaaat’s going on?”, a light voice rang out from the figure that had just appeared to their left.

SNAP

Carter’s hold on the two men finally broke and Spiderman immediately engaged in an attack.

Carter watched in awe as he fought them off, taking their attention away from her. She scrambled away as discreetly as possible only to come face to face with the barrel of a gun.

“FBI EVERYONE PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND DROP YOUR WEAPONS”, a loud voice rang as several people came streaming out to surround them and Carter raised her hands, taking a step back as the agent in front of her advanced.

Shots started firing immediately and Carter gasped as she felt herself yanked into the air by an invisible force. She slammed into a hard chest and she opened her eyes to see the familiar pattern of Spiderman’s suit. He gripped her elbow hard and yanked her around the corner, squinting his huge white eyes at her in anger. 

She let out a small sound of pain at his crushing grip and he loosened it slightly but didn’t let go, instead he dragged her up the stairs and pushed her down into a seat.

“Stay. Here.”, his voice was tight and she could tell he was livid. She nodded wearily and sat back, putting her face in her hands as he took off again down the stairs.

~

Carter could hear the skirmish and she pulled her knees up to her chest as she waited. She couldn't believe how stupid she was being and how out of her depth she was. Her anger blinded her and for a moment she’d felt invincible, but it crumbled fast and hard and her eyes blurred for a moment at the thought of Peter never speaking to her again.

She pulled out her phone and stopped the recording before emailing it to her account. Just as she pressed send, she was jolted from her seat as an enormous grating sound split the air and a brilliant bright light caused her to shield her eyes. 

The ferry shook and people screamed and when Carter opened her eyes she felt herself sliding across the floor. Looking up, her eyes widened as she saw that the entire ferry had been sliced in two.

Scrambling to her feet she watched as Peter tried valiantly to stitch the two halves back together but his efforts were futile and she gripped the railing as the ferry pitched once more.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

People were screaming again but Carter’s heart lifted when she realised they were cheers and she spotted small metal flying objects attaching to the ships exterior and pushing it together. Looking over her shoulder she saw Iron man rocketing towards the ship and Carter frowned as just before he disappeared over the other side, his head briefly tilted in her direction.

When the ferry was successfully pieced back together, Peter dropped lightly next to her before sweeping her up and carrying her off without a word.


	8. Two truths and a lie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fk big rip sorry for the shitty uploading time I'm forgetful

On the roof of a nearby building, Carter stood by silently as a heated conversation was taking place. Tony had stepped out of his suit to berate Peter for his rash behaviour and it now hovered half a metre behind him.

Peter hadn’t spoken to her on the journey to the roof but when he pulled his mask off, the look on his face was something closer to relief than anger.

“I tried to tell you about the men, and the weapons and the deal-” Peter started.

“I know, who do you think called the FBI?” Tony countered, “I want the suit back”, He said coolly. 

Peter blanched, rushing to object, “But I’m nothing without this suit”, He mumbled.

“If you’re nothing without the suit then you shouldn't have it at all”, Tony said with finality.

Carter’s heart broke for Peter, “Don’t do this Mr. Stark please. Peter works his ass off day and night! He deserves to have that suit! Queens needs him, theres no threat here!”, She begged.

Exhale.

No, no, no, no, she thought frantically, she hadn’t meant to but her emotions got the better and the words speared for Tony before she could reign them in.

"Well why didn't you say so!" He grinned, "he does work hard, yes yes keep the suit, Queens needs you". He finished with an encouraging nod towards Peter. 

Peter shot Carter a glance of utter bewilderment and Carter froze, she couldn’t believe she had just pushed a lie on an avenger, onto Iron Man himself. 

"Well if that's that" he continued, "I'm off, I have a fine bottle of scotch and a tall glass of water to attend to". 

"Wait, that's it? You're not mad? You're gonna let me keep it? ", Peter asked cautiously. 

Off to the side Carter was staring at the pair and backing away slowly, the crackling between her brows heightened to a point that was almost painful.

"Yep", Tony popped before a perplexed look crossed his face.

Lie. Truth. Lie. Truth.

Her ability wavered, it couldn't decide, dinging on the inside of her head like a pinball machine.

Lie. Truth. Lie Truth.

Carter’s brows furrowed, she had never felt indecision like this before, it was like an itch that she couldn't scratch and her heart rate picked up, her brain throbbed, the crackling increased and she dug her fingernails into her palms.

Lie. Truth. Lie Truth.

"Tell the truth", she blurted out.

Exhale.

Tony turned slowly to look at her with an expression that betrayed an internal battle, his eyes glazed slightly before he said, "I'm going to get damage control to fix this mess, have to give some aspect of an explanation to the media, and will probably spend the rest of my afternoon working on Mach 2 of Cap's shield because I somewhat miss the old man and for some reason its the only way I’ve found to deal with it."

Carter felt like her skull was igniting, like strikes of lightening pummelling her brain.

Snap

Tony's eyes widened and he took a short step back, a small hesitation before he exploded. Wheeling backwards his suit enveloped him and a females voice resonated from it, "Activating Winter defence protocol 4". 

"What's going on" Carter gasped. Stumbling backwards as Iron Man advanced. 

Peter grabbed her hand, pulling her behind him, eyes wide, he shook his head in mute confusion. 

A high pitched beep cut through the air and the suit scanned Carter's voice, replaying it back   
"what's going on"  
"what's going on"  
"what's going on"

Beep beep 

"Target locked. Frequency detected." The same robotic voice announced, “Scrambling.”

"Mr. Stark! What are you doing?", Peter yelled. 

Carter turned to Peter, casting a fearful glance towards Tony she said something to him before Tony cut in.

"I don't think so Missy", He grunted and Carter shrieked, pitching backwards as 5 objects released from the Iron man suit and speared towards her. 

Peter swatted away two and snatched a third from the air with a web but the final two hit their mark, latching on to each of her wrists and spearing downwards, pulling Carter to the ground and anchoring her wrists beside her to the cement of the building. 

"Kid!" Came Tony's voice, "calm down I don't want to hurt you but you're really in my way right now". 

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOURE DOING" Peter exclaimed frantically. He rushed to Carter’s side and began trying to dislodge the metal anchors from her wrists.

Carter exhaled slowly and bit her lip anxiously before raising her eyes slowly to meet Peter’s.

“Pete… It’s okay just stop for a second”, she murmured. 

He met her gaze for a moment before rounding on Tony, but Tony cut him off, “I think I have a couple things to discuss with your little friend here”.

Carter opened her mouth to say something to Peter but Tony lifted a hand and aimed it threateningly. “Say one word and I won’t be playing nice, seems the muzzle got lost in the mail”, he said gesturing dismissively to the bits of metal Peter had intercepted.

She snapped her mouth closed and nodded meekly.

“I’m still taking that suit back”, muttered Tony.


	9. Consequences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woaahhh two chapters in one day HHAHA look at me go

What Carter thought was going to be a regular Sunday afternoon had turned into one of the most eventful in her life so far. Soon after the altercation and a very silent, very awkward car ride, she found herself sitting nervously in a chair next to Peter in a large, sparsely decorated, white room.

“Is this the Avengers facility?”, Peter asked, eyes wide and darting around the room.

Tony let out a short bark of laughter, “If we gave the location to every kid we pick up off the street I’m sure we would have a security problem”.

Peter sat back in his chair deflated and Carter sniffed angrily.

“Got something to say kiddo?”, Tony turned to Carter, a hint of danger in his voice.

Carter just shook her head sharply and looked away.

“Good answer”, Tony quipped, “Alright Parker you seem to be a little in the dark about this one but I’m going to have to break it to you that your best friend slash childhood sweetheart over here is in fact an enhanced individual, whereby I mean, she has powers”.

Peter frowned deeply before turning to Carter, “what is he talking about”.

Carter looked at Tony warily before opening her mouth.

“Upupup!”, Tony interjected, “Just letting you know, I’ve got Friday wired into the room, you get overly vocal and she’ll pick it up. I guarantee you, you won’t like the consequences”

Carter bit her lip anxiously before finally she said, “It’s true, I’ve had this ability since I was born I think, for some reason I can tell when a person is lying, kind of like a built in lie detector”.

Peter blinked at her mutely and Tony gestured for her to go on.

“Also”, she continued, “uhh I’ve noticed that I’m able to… make people believe me when I say something and I think, make people tell me the truth when I ask them too…?”

Her eyes were fixed on the floor as she said this but she raised them to gauge Peter’s reaction.

Peter took a deep breath and then another.  
His jaw clenched tightly and he swallowed thickly before standing up slowly.  
“Your whole life, you’ve been lying to me…”, he whispered, “You’ve known every single time I’ve lied to you and you never felt the need to tell me.”

Tony made a face, “I’ll leave you two to it”, he said as he slipped from the room.

Carter shrank back into her seat as Peter towered over her hands shaking.

“Why were you on that boat Carter? You could have been hurt! You almost died, don’t you see? Don’t you care what happens to you?”.

“They were selling weapons to people who were using them for… to… for bad things Pete! I just wanted to help”, she stuttered. 

He stopped for a second and stared at her, “You followed me… You made me tell you where I was going didn't you!? I remember, I couldn’t stop myself, how many times have you done that to me??”, his voice was loud now and Carter scrambled to stand up.

“No!”, She implored, “I mean, yes but-“, she reached out to him.

Peter took a step backwards, shaking his head, his face was a mask but his eyes showed pure betrayal.

“I didn’t mean to, I didn't even know I could and then this past week its been happening and I don’t always know how to control it, like I can feel when its happening but I can’t make it happen, it just does” she said pleadingly.

Peter exhaled loudly, looked at her once then turned and stalked for the door.

“Please Pete I’m sorry, please forgive me”, Carter said in a small voice.

Peter smashed his palms into his ears, “Don’t even think about it!” He growled.

“I wasn’t, I-” she protested, but Peter was out the door.

~

Carter breathed deeply and dropped her head into her hands, struggling to hold back tears. She sat in the cold white chair for a moment contemplating the events of the past few weeks, mind racing and heart bleeding.

“So you're the one I had my best lawyers working round the clock for”, Carter jumped when Tony’s voice sounded in front of her.

“What are you talking about?”, the defeat in her voice was evident and Tony sighed and sat down across from her, elbows on knees, peering at her over his tinted sun glasses.

“The kid had me put a bunch of lowlives away for assault… my lawyers are very good, they're going away for a while”, something akin to satisfaction seeped into his voice for a moment.

Carter gazed at him for a moment, before a sad smile crept across her face, “He’s always looking out for me, even when I don’t know it”.  
“Don’t get all sappy on me, but yeah you messed up kid”, Tony shrugged, dragging a hand down his chin and leaning back.

Tony pulled out his phone and scrolled through it with his thumb.

“Should be going down any minute”, a low male voice came from the phone.

Carter frowned and opened her mouth but Tony put a hand up, “wait, wait, this is my favourite part”, he said.

“…If you don’t knock yourself out right now, you and everyone you love is going to die”, Carter’s voice drifted from the speaker.

“Good one”, Tony said plainly, before tapping the phone and slipping it back into his pocket.

Carter gaped at him, “Shouldn’t be surprised I guess”, she huffed.

Tony sat back again and crossed his arms, “you have a very interesting ability Carter Moore”, he said finally.

Carter’s expression darkened and she straightened her back defiantly. 

“You are not running tests on me like a lab rat”, she said lowly.

Tony was quiet for a moment, “the tests would soothe your own curiosities as much as mine”.

“I’m not… I don’t want… I just want to learn to control it, I really don’t like doing it to people, I really don’t mean to”, she insisted.

For a moment, Carter had the horrible thought that he wasn’t asking for permission and she collected herself, tensing her muscles, “I just want to go home please”, she said with a level voice.

Tony eyed her, “You realise what this whole predicament looks like to the FBI yes?”

Carter’s eyes widened and her resolve wavered slightly.

“You did just get blatantly caught brokering an arms deal ‘on behalf of Mr. Gargan'”, Tony used his hands to imitate air quotes for the last part and Carter looked away to hide the small smile she was fighting.

Tony cleared his throat and she looked up, convinced for a second that he was fighting his own smile.

“You’re on our radar now Carter, so don’t go doing anything, you know, stupid. Theres a car out front to take you home”, he said, standing up quickly.

Carter nodded and was escorted out quietly by Happy, when she was walked out of the building she was surprised to see Peter in a huge t-shirt and hello kitty pyjama bottoms, leaning against the wall.

Before she could say anything he cut in, “I wasn’t going to just leave you here, doesn’t mean I forgive you”.

She nodded jerkily and they climbed into the backseat and the ride once again was endured in silence.


	10. Homecoming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys! I've been in Europe but I'm back now so heres a long one xx

Weeks passed and as the school year came to a close and Homecoming approached, Carter stayed far away from her best friend and Peter stayed away from her. Both were hurting but neither knew how to fix the shredded remains of their relationship.

Leaving class one day to go to the bathroom Carter stumbled into Peter in the hall, seemingly doing the same thing. They both clutched their hall passes awkwardly and attempted to side step each other clumsily.

Peter chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head, while Carter just sighed.

“Hey Cart… Um how have you been?”, Peter asked with a wince. The familiar sound of her nickname was like a dagger to the heart.

Carter’s reply was just as dull as the question and they both found themselves swallowing thickly.

“So, are you going to homecoming?”, Carter tried.

“Yeah! Actually I’m taking Liz… uh are you…? Coming… I mean…”, he replied, fidgeting with the bottom of his shirt.

“Nah, don’t think so, me and mum are just gonna watch some reruns I think”, Carter tried to say brightly but wasn’t very convincing.

Peter looked up at that and for a moment the pair just gazed at each other, but a door slammed near them and a senior walked past, breaking them from the moment.

“I, uh, should get going”, Carter said with a sad smile as Peter nodded and they parted ways.

~

“Why aren’t you going with Peter?” Mrs Moore asked for the hundredth time that night as they both puttered around the kitchen making snacks.

“Mum I told you, it’s a long story, we’re not that close anymore!”, Carter growled. 

Mrs Moore shook her head, “just ask him to homecoming then!”.

“You realise it’s tonight right? I can’t just… It doesn't work like that it’s complicated! He’s going with this girl Liz anyway”, Carter replied with her mouth full of marshmallows. Her mothers confused expression was enough for Carter to scowl and she added, “she’s a girl from school, Liz Toomes… it’s not important”.

A look of understanding crossed Mrs. Moore’s face and she tilted her head back as she exclaimed “ahhh yes yes, I know her mother, she sends us the Toomes' family christmas letter every year, it’s very sweet”. She bustled off as Carter shoved more marshmallows in her mouth and walked over to settle onto the couch.

From the other room she heard her mother, “we should do one you know! They’re always so cute”.

“A christmas letter?” Carter scoffed, “don’t think enough goes on in our life to be honest, who would we send it to anyway?”.

She looked up as a hand was thrust in her face dangling a colourful piece of paper, “here it is!”, he mother grinned.

She shook the paper in Carter’s face and Carter batted her hand away with irritation, although a smile was creeping on her face, “yes yes, I get it, big happy famil-“, Carter froze. She reached up and snatched the paper from her mothers hand, shooting to her feet.

Right smack bang in the middle of the letter was a family photo.

Liz. Her mother… And her father.

Smiling brightly over Liz’s right shoulder was Mr. Toomes, the man from the ferry. The boss.

Feet moving faster than she thought they could Carter raced for her room, “MUM I’M GOING TO HOMECOMING”, she screeched.

“YOU NEED A DRESS”, was the surprised reply.

“NO I DONT”.

“YES YOU DO, COME HERE I HAVE ONE”  
In record time Carter had slipped on a dazzling blue dress and was hoping into the car. She tried Peter’s phone multiple times but it was switched off and she tapped her foot to relieve the tension as her bewildered mother drove her to the school.

~

Upon kissing her mother goodbye and practically rolling out of the car, Carter scanned the crowd.

Liz stepped out of a car across the car park and Carter breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Peter in the backseat motioning to step out too.

She cast her eyes frantically to the driver and saw Toomes twisting in his seat to talk to Peter. Standing on her toes for a better view, Carter zeroed in on his right hand and her own hands flew to her mouth when she realised he was holding a gun.

Immediately, she was rushing for the pair, weaving in and out, around parents and cars and kids and teachers, she was almost there when Peter caught her eye and for a moment she saw a flash of terror as their eyes met, followed by an almost imperceptible shake of his head.

She froze, rooted to the spot, itching to move as Toomes spoke to Peter. There was a moment of pause between the two before through clenched teeth Peter responded and finally moved to exit the car.

Carter releasing a breath she took another step forward but a car skidded to a stop next to her and before she knew what was happening she was yanked off her feet. One hand reached around her waist and one slammed over her mouth as she was dragged roughly into the vehicle.

As the car sped away, Peter stepped out of Toomes’, immediately surveying the spot he had last seen Carter. When he couldn’t find her he shoved his shaky hands into his pockets and headed for the entrance to the school.

~

Carter screamed into the hand over her mouth and she kicked her feet and wiggled her body but her hands were drawn harshly behind her back and tied tightly with rope. She whipped her head around to survey her assailants and saw three men she didn’t recognise; one driving, one holding her still and the third cinching her ankles tightly together with the same type of rope. 

The back of the van was dark and hot and smelled like oil. It was currently careening around a corner at breakneck speed. She desperately tried to dislodge the hand from her mouth and when an opportunity arose, she bit down as hard as she could on a finger.

With a yelp, the hand was removed and Carter opened her mouth to spit commands at them but without a even a second of respite a solid blow connected with her lip and she gasped in pain. Blinking her eyes rapidly, she panted as a knotted piece of cloth was shoved in her mouth and tied behind her head.

Carter was aware of the wetness on her chin and knew her lip was bleeding but the men just sighed with relief and leaned back as the van came to an abrupt stop.

They had been driving for barely two minutes and Carter growled as she was hoisted up and dumped on a chair before all three men exited the vehicle, leaving her alone in darkness.

~

She struggled and screamed and rubbed her wrists raw for a couple minutes. Her mind was racing and she groaned audibly in frustration.  
Finally the door opened and Carter sucked in a breath when she recognised Toomes. He stalked towards her with a curious look on his face and crouched down to her level.  
He leaned in close with a smile, so close she could feel his breath on her face and despite herself, she closed her eyes and she trembled.  
She thought of the gun under her jaw, her head cracking against the wall, the hand reaching…  
With a hard exhale of breath she centred herself and opened her eyes.

“There’s a good girl”, he crooned, and she glared at him before throwing head forward in an attempt to smash her forehead into his nose. He jerked his head back just in time and his nostrils flared in anger, his hands slamming down on the arms of the chair.

“Now, now, calm down theres no need to get aggressive”, he snarled, grabbing her chin harshly. He wrenched her head up to look at him and he surveyed her like a piece of meat, making her blood boil and hands shake with anger.

“You fucked up everything little girl”, He snarled, before his expression deadened and he surveyed her curiously “you have a very unique ability you know… I know more than a few people that would be very interested in you”.

Carter’s eyes blurred for a moment and she locked her gaze with his, refusing to be cowed. However, both of them turned their attention to the closed doors as a series of crashes were heard outside and the door was swung open.

Carter’s eyes meet with Peter’s for a split second, she could almost see the cogs turning in his mind as he looked at them. The blood dribbling down her chin, the fingers digging into her jaw. She almost laughed as she took in the curious outfit he was wearing, some sort of home-made spiderman suit that reminded her of a muppet. The moment was over just as suddenly as a huge energy pulse crashed into Peter’s side and he was sent flying out of sight.

Toomes scoffed and turned back to Carter, releasing her jaw and standing up straight, “This kid is an idiot, can’t say I didn’t warn him”, he tutted.

A horrific smile split his face and he stepped out of the van without a backwards glance; slamming the doors shut on Carter’s seething form.

Using her shoulder she started trying to dislodge the cloth from her mouth, but it was tied so tightly and as she became more and more frustrated, she made less and less progress.

Once again Carter’s head whipped towards the door as it was pulled open and she slumped in relief at the familiar figure.

Ned stepped in to the van with wide eyes, wringing his hands, “CARTER?”, he yelped.

“Oh hank-goh-“ She tried around the cloth but rolled her eyes in defeat and tried gesturing wildly to the ropes at her wrist. He moved for her immediately and she grimaced as the the cloth was pulled from her mouth and brushed over her split lip.

“Ned, you saviour”, Carter crowed as he reached for her wrists.

“Where’s Peter?”, He asked, “he came inside for like one second and then ran out again!”

“He’s fighting the bad guys outside”, She hissed, “The boss! The bird man! He’s Liz’s dad!”

Ned froze and his mouth dropped open but hurried back to his task when Carter wiggled her hands to prompt him.

“Man, I think this dude did scouts or something, I can’t untie them” He whined and Carter groaned.

“Come ooon! it can’t be that hard!”

“Well I’d like to see you try!”, he grunted, she could feel his hands slipping over the knot and her frustrated groan quickly turned to a shout as a man stepped into the van.

Both Ned and Carter froze and Ned let out a soft, nervous chuckle before the man raised the gun in his hand and pointed it straight at him.

Carter inhaled deeply, looked him dead in the eye and growled, “That gun is poisonous to the touch”.

Exhale

He yelped in fright and dropped the gun and Ned dived for it. He grabbed it and fumbled for a while before squeezing his eyes shut and blasting an electrical pulse at the man, sending him flying out the doors.

He then turned and fired another shot out of Carter’s line of vision and she looked at him eyes wide.

“What’s wrong is Peter okay??” Carter yelled and just as the words left her mouth, a familiar curly brown mop peaked into the van.

Carter sank into her chair with relief and Peter’s eyes softened as he rushed for her, his makeshift mask clutched in his hands.

“Couldn’t you have made him untie you or something!?” Ned babbled and Carter huffed, “you try thinking so fast on the spot!”.

Peter knelt next to her and untied the ropes in seconds, his fingers gently brushing over her tender wrists.

Carter gave Ned a pointed look and he held his hands out with an exaggerated shrug, “Whatdya want from me, he’s a superhero”.

Carter stood up and turned to Peter nervously but was almost bowled over as she was engulfed in a crushing hug. Startled for a moment, she didn’t move but finally wrapped her arms around him and smiled.

“Missed you too Pete”, she whispered.

~

Ned left quickly mumbling something about a guy in a chair and Peter dragged Carter over to the gate.

“Stay here-“, he started, but Carter cut in, “I’m coming with you! I need to do this with you” she said firmly, careful not to trigger her power.

Peter gazed at her for a moment before he nodded with defeat, “I’ll be right back I promise I wont leave without you”, he assured.

Dutifully, Carter stood still, looking around nervously and craning her neck in the direction Peter had run off to.

Not a minute later she jumped back comically as a flashy car came skidding to a halt in front of her,  
“GET IN”, Peter yelled from the drivers side, and Carter’s mouth flew open with surprise before she hopped into the passenger seat.

The car took off and Carter couldn't hold back her shout of excitement as they careened around the corner.

Peter was yelling into a com link to Ned and she found out that Ned was tracking Peter’s phone where he had strategically dropped it in Toomes’ car.

“WHY ARE YOU THE ONE DRIVING YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE A LICENCE”, Carter yelled over the wind.

“YOU DON’T HAVE ONE EITHER”, Peter replied jerkily steering around a parked car.

“WELL I WOULDN’T BE THIS BAD”, she yelled back, clutching her seatbelt to her chest but none the less a thrilling laugh bubbled over her lips as he went over a bump, and Peter formed a smile of his own as they sped through New York.


	11. Confrontation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry im the worst i keep forgetting i have this fic here HAHAH heres the rest of it kids x

Coming to a screeching stop Peter hopped from the car and turned to Carter, “I’m going to confront him okay, please stay out of sight”, he pleaded.

Carter nodded mutely and watched anxiously as he proceeded to the entrance of an industrial building. After a time, the silence of the night was pierced by a huge crash and Carter jumped as she heard shouts followed by the grating sound of structural collapse.

The building was crashing in on itself and Peter was still inside.

Carter took a step forward and then another but a large chunk of metal came flying towards her, landing in front of her, the reverberations sending her to her knees.

She slunk back into a shadow as Toomes flew out and over her head in his suit and her mind raced as she waited for the familiar red and blue figure to leap out and follow him. 

But Peter didn’t appear.

“No, no, no, no, no…” Carter whispered frantically to herself, launching to her feet and picking her way through the wreckage.

“Peter!?”, She yelled and was met with silence. 

Refusing to give up, she crawled over and under debris until finally she heard a groan to her left and a painful cry for help.

Eyes wide she raced for the sound and found Peter under a large pillar, trapped and bleeding.

She skidded to her knees in front of him, her hands hovering over him.

“Peter? Can you hear me? Are you okay?” She whispered, she reached forward to brush the hair from his eyes.

Peter groaned in pain and shifted slightly before tensing his muscles and attempting to lift the debris off himself. After several seconds of straining he let out a soft sob and collapsed under the weight, lifting his head to look at her with heavy lids, “Cart, I’m stuck, I can’t- I don’t think I can- I’m not-”, Peter stuttered and Carter lunged for the pillar, pushing against it with all her strength yet not being able to budge it an inch.

She fell to her knees in front of him again and took his face in her hands. He closed his eyes and loosed a breath.

“Peter. You are spiderman, you can do this, you know you can, you’re amazing”, she said firmly, tears streaking fresh tracks down her dirty face.

“I’m spiderman”, he repeated, “I am spiderman… Come on spiderman… I am spiderman”, he sucked in a breath and lifted with everything he had. Catching the pillar with his hands, he lifted it up and over his head, face red and eyes squeezed shut until with a final push he threw it off himself and stood up straight.

Brimming with pride Carter grabbed his face and laughed, “you’re amazing!”, she repeated with a grin, and Peter returned the grin before his face suddenly dropped as Tommes flew by over head. Reaching a hand up to the sky he shot a web out which latched onto Tommes and just before he was yanked off his feet he placed a kiss on Carter’s cheek and hissed “He’s after Mr. Starks plane!”.

“PETER PARKER I SWEAR TO GOD”, Carter groaned before taking off at a run back towards the car and pulling her phone from her pocket.

She jumped into the drivers seat and fumbled for the keys, putting Ned on speaker and filling him in on the circumstances.

Looking up, she spotted Starks plane and she shoved the car into drive and sped off after it.

The next couple minutes were a jumbled mess of Ned’s frantic relaying and Carters frantic driving.

“The planes coming down whether we want it to or not”, Ned yelled and Carter screeched around a corner as she replied, “The planes still over residential area, tell Peter to keep it in the air!”.

Carter was certain she was close to a heart attack and her erratic driving had probably plastered her face on every speed and red light camera in new york but as the car came up along a stretch of parkland she sighed with relief.

“TELL PETER THE PLANES OVER PARKLAND, IF ITS COMING DOWN DO IT NOW”, she yelled.

She looked up and not a moment later she watched as the plane tilted and then dived. She brought the car to a halt and she climbed out of it, rooted to the spot as the plane hit the ground and sent shockwaves through the earth.

A hesitant step forward. 

Another.

And then she was running, racing towards the flames.

Her breathing became ragged, her legs ached and her lungs burned but she kept sprinting for the wreckage.

When she reached the centre of the crash site she released a breath as she saw Peter was alive. His face was bloody and his arms hung loosely by his sides. In front of him Toomes was slouched, stuck solidly by webs to a chunk of the wreckage, unconscious.

A loud sob of relief escaped from her lips and her knees buckled sending her to the dirt.

Peter’s head whipped around when he heard her and their eyes locked.

He raced for her immediately and crashed to the ground in front of her, sweeping her into a crushing hug, his arms around her neck she wrapped hers around his waist and sunk into his chest.

“I think I need a nap…”, Peter groaned, his arms tightened around her and she felt his cheek fall to rest on her head.

“You’re incredible”, she laughed breathlessly.

He smelt of blood and gasoline and dirt and sweat but she breathed in deeply and he held her steadily for a while.

She didn’t know how much time passed as they sat there clutching each other but when they began to hear sirens, and were blinded by the light of a helicopter above, she removed herself delicately from his grip and trudged past him towards the man wrapped tightly to the wreckage.

Toomes was conscious now and his gaze pierced hers with a ferocity she hoped she’d never see the wrath of. Crouching in front of him she looked him dead in the eye.

“You don’t know spiderman’s identity”, she said firmly. She poured every ounce of determination into the words, block by block she build a shield around each and every one and she weaved them like needle and thread into the mind of the man in front of her.

Exhale

A small knot formed behind her brows but she pushed the ache to the back of her mind.

For Peter.

Straightening up, she caught Peter’s eye as she returned to him, he gazed at her intensely before he nodded gently. 

“Thank you”, he whispered, swallowing thickly.

He then took her hand and whisked them away as the first policeman entered the site.

 

________

 

Carter woke up gasping and Peter was immediately on his feet hands up in a defensive stance, scanning her bed room.

“Whats happening” he hissed frantically.

She groaned in frustration, breaths slowing, “its nothing never mind”

“Oh… Did you have a nightmare?” Peter asked gently, shoulders relaxing and hands coming down.

“I don’t want to talk about it” she sighed.

She motioned for him to come back to bed and as he sat next to her she reached out tentatively for his face.

The cuts and bruises from the plane crash were healing easily and she touched his jaw lightly with her fingertips. His hand came up to grasp her wrist and she thought he would pull it away but he merely rested it there as she ran a thumb over his lower lip.

“We’re matching”, she chuckled, tilting her head up and poking out her own lip, the cut healing much slower than Peter’s.

Peter looked away, “I’m sor-“

Before he could get the words out Carter put a hand over his mouth and a scowl crossed her face.

“You say you’re sorry one more time and trust me you will be”, she threatened, before her face transformed into a smile and Peter couldn’t help but smile back.

“At least let me apologise for how I've been treating you… I’m glad we’re talking again”, he said sincerely.

“I’m glad we are too”, she murmured, “also, I never got to thank you for what you did… With uh, Tony, and you know, h-his lawyers”, she stuttered out.

The confusion on Peter’s face cleared and she recognised the shadow that passed across it every time the topic came up.

They never really spoke about it, it was a memory she preferred to keep buried and instead was resigned to facing it at night in her dreams.

“Carter… I need to know”, he started, hands fiddling with the end of his sleeve, “no lies, no jokes, just tell me…are you okay?”.

It was like a dam broke. Everything she had kept bottled up for weeks, every emotion, every memory came crashing through her at once and the brave face she had spent weeks constructing crumpled.

Carter saw her pain mirrored in Peter’s expression and he moved forward, bundling her in his arms. It was the first time she’d really let herself cry since the incident and she could help it as great shuddering sobs escaped from her, muffled by Peter’s t-shirt as she pressed her face into his chest.

“It’s okay”, he soothed, “You’re safe now, I promise I won’t let anything like that happen to you again”.

A teary chuckle escaped from Carter and she lifted her head to look Peter in the eye. Sitting on her bed, holding her tightly, they were a tangled mess of limbs and with faces inches apart, she could feel his light exhales on her cheek. 

And then, in the space of a second…

One moment they were apart and then suddenly they weren’t.

The moment his lips met hers was feather light, almost a question. There was a pause and then Carter surged forward, crashing her lips into his, eyes fluttering closed as he returned the searing kiss.

After a time, they stopped, nose to nose and she felt his chuckle as it rumbled in his chest.

Breathlessly, she admitted, “I don’t know whats happening right now but I’m not opposed”.

Peter took a deep breath in, “Carter Moore, I think I love you”.

The words sank into her skin and she grinned. With a steady heart she replied, “Peter Parker, I think I love you too”.


	12. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figure ill just post the epilogue now too before i forget about the fic again lmaoo thanks everyone for your comments and kudos xx

EPILOGUE 

A few weeks later

 

“We wan’t you to be part of the new avengers team Peter”

Peter and Carter had been lounging on her couch watching star trek and throwing popcorn into each others mouths when they’d felt a short vibration. Peter had dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone with a frown. He turned the phone towards her for her to see and she read:

I’m summoning you two, theres a car downstairs, quick sticks kids. TS

Some time later they were standing together, wide eyed at the vastness that was the new avengers facility.

“Why am I here then?”, Carter interjected when Peter just stared at him, gobsmacked. 

“Well, we were thinking of taking you on as somewhat of an Avengers consultant” he said, a sly smile creeping across his face.

“Like, work for you? Doing what? I can barely control this”, Carter frowned, raising an eyebrow.

“For now we were thinking more along the lines of basic training, I know a few people who’ve had… experience with mind control” he said delicately. 

Carter pondered this for a while, turning to look at Peter when he finally regained composure.

“I think I might just keep my feet on the ground for now” Peter said finally and Tony’s face fell ever so slightly.

“What about you?” Tony turned to Carter but Carter was already nodding her head.

“I want to learn to control this… I want to finish school but a little training can’t hurt” she said, a small smile growing on her face.

“Perfect!” Tony exclaimed, clapping his hands together. He provided her with a short grin, “Just call it an internship! A stark internship!”.

She looked at Peter and huffed “I think I’ll come up with my own excuses thanks”, her expression shifted and she looked at him fondly as he squeezed her hand.

“eugh, young love”, Tony grimaced, absentmindedly patting his pocket, “well if we’re sure then i’ll be in touch”.

Tony slipped away and Peter and Carter trotted down the stairs to meet Happy outside when Carter gasped.

A searing pain shot through her skull and she groaned, doubling over and shooting a hand out to steady herself against the wall. Peter was immediately in front of her, hands on her waist to steady her, “whats happening, are you okay??”, he asked frantically.

With her eyes squeezed shot, Carter sucked in a sharp breath and then exhaled through gritted teeth, straightening up slightly.

“Someone’s questioning my lie”, she gasped.

“What lie, whats going on” Peter hissed, eyes wide.

“Toomes… your identity, I think someones asking about your identity”, then with a final exhale, her shoulder’s relaxed and she straightened again, “phew, that was a ride, It’s over now”, she grimaced.

Understanding dawned on Peter and he looked at her seriously, “are you sure you're okay to keep this up, because honestly, if it’s too much just-“

Carter cut him off with a quick peck on the lips, followed by a sly smile as she pulled away, “I can handle it, you’re going to have permanent worry lines if you keep this up”.

Peter smiled back ruefully, “you astound me Carter Moore”, he opened the door in front of them and shook his head, and they walked out of the facility hand in hand.


End file.
